The Dark I Know Well
by Invictus2013
Summary: Upon his creation, the meta-crisis felt the darkness he fought so hard to hold back erupt to the point of no return. So the fight begins to manipulate those around him so he can find his way back to the proper universe and get revenge on the Doctor but first he has to get past Rose and the Wolf. The Valeyard's back.
1. Prologue

**The Dark I Know Well**: Prologue

**Summary**: Upon his creation, the meta-crisis felt the darkness he fought so hard to hold back erupt to the point of no return. So the fight begins to manipulate those around him so he can find his way back to the proper universe and get revenge on the Doctor but first he has to get past Rose and the Wolf. The Valeyard's back.

**A/N**:_ This story is a companion piece to Hopeless Wanderer but HW does not need to be read to understand this story. For those reading this as a follow on to that story, this takes place after Rose and the Meta-Crisis were left on the beach. I'm currently writing this as I'm posting it so updates may be a bit inconsistent, but I'm working hard as this is my main project for CampNano in April. Enjoy! ~Invictus_

* * *

It was safe to say that it took some time to adapt to everyday life on Earth; however, having the director of Torchwood at one's side made it quite easy to adjust. Within a day of being back in London, the meta-crisis found himself with all the necessary paperwork to be what was deemed "a productive member of society." Wasn't that what they told inmates upon release from prison? Rose had asked him early in the journey back from Norway back to London what name he would choose and he hadn't had an answer for her. He didn't feel much like a John Smith which was initially going to be his canned response.

Memories flew forward of the Family of Blood where he had been Professor John Smith, human like he was now. That man had been innocent if not naïve and the meta-crisis was not that man in any way, shape, or form. Only days old technically, he already had blood on his hands yet Rose hadn't treated him as a monster like the 'other' had insisted he was. Still he had thought endlessly about a name before he finally settled on one. Only a couple days old and he was already making monumental decisions about who he would be.

He remembered a night which seemed so long ago where he and Rose had once more traveled and wandered into battle; this time it was with a hairy beast of a werewolf. The name he had taken back then was James McCrimmon. When he mentioned it, it was clear to see that Rose remembered by the small smile that came across her face followed quickly by confusion. He had told Pete what he wanted his middle name to be without offering any explanation whatsoever beyond a small smirk and a smile.

So on February 13 he was officially born: James Valeyard McCrimmon. And oh what a glorious future he would have with Rose Tyler at his side, a growing TARDIS, and Torchwood at his hands.

They had no idea what was coming.


	2. Chapter 1 - Settling

The Dark I Know Well

Chapter One: Settling

Having worked for Torchwood for so long, Rose fell into a rhythm for day to day operations. Now that she returned from her successful mission with her version of the Doctor, she could get back to daily operations with her crew and begin the healing process as the not-quite-Doctor learned to adapt as well to his part-human self. They used to run constantly in their previous life together, most often from various ghouls or to avoid getting stuck in a jail cell again, but now Rose was just doing the running as a way to cope herself.

It was a mental relief while also ensuring that she maintained fitness which was expected for her current role at Torchwood now that the Dimension Cannon Project was a success and officially closed down. She was now Commander Tyler officially; lead of Torchwood Major Crisis Team Alpha. She was numb to her body's protests as she got up early once more in the morning to run in the park nearby. This was how her days had been the past few months. Get up early, go for a long run before working out with the equipment at the house, get showered and changed for work, spend a few hours doing pointless paperwork or chasing after the alien of the day, and coming home to eat before resting and doing it all over again.

That had been her job prior to the Dimension Cannon project as well, but now that they were back it was different as well now that James was there. He had moved into the guest bedroom at her house and was now working at Torchwood with her. However he had chosen to abstain from field operations; choosing to instead work in the archives cataloguing items that Torchwood had collected or was given while also headlining their Research and Development division. He had only been there a month before he had streamlined their defensive systems in place in the Torchwood Tower making it an easy case for him to take the role.

They had yet to speak about what his thoughts were about her changed personality and her new role in Torchwood. Rose knew she was more of a soldier than she ever had been; it was hard not to slip into the role after all she had been through on her travels to save the multi-verse when the stars were going out. Now though she was simply commanding a field team and one of the top liaisons for visiting alien entities serving in the role of negotiator. It was safe to say that life had definitely changed.

Rose donned her trainers and then was off, slipping out into the crisp early morning air to begin her run. This was her time to sort through all the chaos that was going through her mind and to push her aggression out on her own body as she ran. There was so much she still wondered about in the long run. Why the Doctor had left them here so easily rather than giving either of them a choice as to where they chose to belong? In the end he had left them with a TARDIS coral to help build their own ship, but still it wasn't the same. Rose knew it would only be a matter of time before James officially lost it and grew tired of living this everyday life. Until then, she would just continue to live on and wait for the eventual brawl that would erupt.

Back at the house, James lay in bed waiting until he heard the door close behind Rose on her way out. Once he knew she was gone, he started to get up himself to start work down in the basement where their TARDIS was growing. Typically when Rose would disappear he would have an hour before she returned and headed downstairs to the basement as well to use the gym equipment. In that time he would use what he managed to sneak out from Torchwood to speed up the growth of their ship.

To say he was unhappy would be an understatement of epic proportions. To all those around him, _James_ seemed happy as all could be, but they waited for his irritation to come out occasionally. In reality however, James was absolutely, positively, steaming at the audacity of the Doctor to ditch him and Rose in this world without a choice. Now James was subjected to menial simpleton human life with a job and everything. This was not going to work. As James made his way back down to their TARDIS he let out a chuckle.

While the Doctor was one to play nice until he was prompted to the point where he'd have to play dirty, James was the complete opposite. No longer were there any barriers set in place or rules for him to follow. James had one purpose in life now and that was to get revenge on the man who abandoned Rose and himself. If that meant killing and pillaging and doing dastardly things along the way so be it.

First things first, James needed to get more influence within Torchwood. Once that was in place, he could get what he needed to speed up the TARDIS growth. The last part of his plan was quite hazy as to how to jump across the universes to the right one in order to seek his revenge, but he was starting to get an idea as to what might get him there.

_Rose Tyler and the big bad wolf._

The resulting question was simple: how?


	3. Chapter 2 - Observations

The Dark I Know Well  
Chapter Two: Observations

It was starting off to be yet another normal and boring day at Torchwood for James in the Archives and Research and Development areas. Given that all of the projects he was attempting to begin were halted until they received approval for allocation of funds from the all-mighty Director of Torchwood, one Pete Tyler, he was down in the basement sorting through some of the things that the various teams had brought in. _Yet another normal, boring human day_. Walking the long aisles filled with tech picked up, James paused as he found something quite peculiar on a shelf. He reached over and grabbed the small device that looked much like a watch before he grinned.

"A shimmer," He mused as he was already walking back towards his workbench, trying to decipher how to manipulate the settings to enable the device to propagate the proper image he wanted.

It took about three hours but finally as he spun the dial James looked in a reflective surface to find that his image had now been replaced by that of one of the security officers stationed outside the lab. _This was going to be very useful_, he mused before pocketing it and silently sliding out of the archives to start his way home. A shimmer had many uses. Perhaps he could use it to become someone else for a period of time to get into the weapons vaults. _No... that was too obvious. _Also who needed that when you were living with a lead for an operations team who could get you into the vault anyways?

He had a goal in mind yet no particular plan just yet. Pieces and thoughts flying in from everywhere that hopefully would come together in the end allowing him to finally get what he wanted. Until then he would continue scouring the archives until he found what he needed. There was also the small problem of his TARDIS not being quite ready to even fly or even at the point to open the door. Shaking his head from that train of thought he began the drive back to the flat where he started cooking dinner in anticipation for Rose to come home. It was about time he started getting some answers about what had gone down during her trips across the void to find him, well the _other_ him.

He was about halfway done cooking the food when Rose finally came home exhausted from work, feet dragging and her bag limply hanging off a shoulder. She managed to bite out a grunt in greeting to James before heading towards her room to change out of her clothes. After changing into more comfortable clothing she slid into the kitchen where she had to smile at the sight. James was standing at the stove cooking what looked to be some sort of pasta.

"How was work for you?" Rose asked, leaning back against the counter.

"Uneventful," James answered. "Sorting through more stuff and ignoring some of the lab technicians. How about yourself?"

"Planning for a visit from some group or another," Rose shrugged. "It's turning out to be a security nightmare and Pete wants my team to take lead, but considering we've done the last four I'm bargaining for time off."

James scowled slightly at that, "You all were working for two days straight just now to clean everything up from the last fiasco. Why would he make you work this now?"

Rose shrugged, "Grooming us or me I guess to take over operations? I have no idea. I'm too exhausted to try and understand my dad's political mind."

James nodded, looking quite irritated at that fact on the outside in a guise of agreeing with Rose's obvious frustration. However on the inside that bit of information was making him dance with glee. If Rose managed to take over operations that meant he could perhaps get access to more stuff that he needed for the TARDIS and his trip afterwards across the void again. Before they could even really relax or continue talking however, Rose's phone started going off again.

James turned at her sigh, offering, "You could always ignore it."

"I'm really thinking about it," she replied.

Reaching over, Rose grabbed her phone and read the Caller ID with a groan. A 48 hour shift at work and now Torchwood Tower is calling her again. This was going to be a hell of a week.

Sliding the phone to answer, Rose tried to keep her voice from turning into a growl as she answered, "Commander Tyler."

James smirked as he always did at the title, ducking as Rose smacked him over the back of the head with the towel in her hand as he snickered. Rose leaned against the counter listening to the dispatcher explain the situation. Rose set down the towel on the counter, running a hand through her hair.

"So why can't the standard team take over until I get there tomorrow?" Rose questioned annoyed.

James turned down the food on the stove turning to look at Rose and could sense from her expression and body language that she was about ready to murder someone. Unlike him however, that was a figurative observation. Rose hung up the phone, tossing it on the counter with a sigh. He raised an eyebrow and she gave him an apologetic look.

"So you're heading back?" James guessed and Rose nodded. "You've been off duty for maybe three hours Rose."

"I'm used to it," Rose sighed. "Some potential allies came in and since I handled the negotiation last time so they need me to take care of it considering I'm planning for the upcoming visit anyways."

James nodded, "Alright, I'll finish cooking here and you can take it to go."

"I have to go change," Rose replied as she turned and headed back to her room.

As James watched her go he dropped the mask on his face and sneered. He understood that this was Rose's job now and her life, but he never expected to see how much Torchwood had taken over. He thought back to the days when he first had met Rose back when she was nothing more than a young Estate girl who left behind a weak boyfriend and single mother to travel the stars. Granted as he watched her over the next two years Rose grew into a formidable companion, but nothing like she was now. Torchwood had clearly hardened her into the soldier he once had loathed and dreaded his companions becoming. Her success in this role was clear enough by her title alone: Commander.

She was in charge of a team of Torchwood operatives who went around and helped to stop random alien infestations, negotiate or deal with visitors, and more. Her demeanor was hardened and came through even more so in dangerous situations where she took command and already James could see that those defenses in the end helped save lives. He just didn't understand what had caused the transformation to finally take place. When he had seen her on the Dalek Crucible she hadn't been this harsh… or had she? It looked as though his plan to ask her about her travels in the void would have to take place sooner rather than later if he wanted any sort of answers.

Rose came back into view wearing her standard Torchwood gear which served as yet another indication as to her rise in stature within the Torchwood unit. She wore a set of black fatigues and boots which made her look like she was truly going to battle. The part which made James really begin to see how much influence she was gaining was the rank affixed to it as required for all field operatives. _Commander indeed_, he thought.

Rose gave him a half smile as she took the food from him, "They said you can come along if you want for this one. Figured you might be able to help us out."

"Who are you meeting?" James asked.

"Some Ice Lords," Rose shrugged and he raised an eyebrow. "Have a bit of experience with them so they asked me to come, but if you have anything to offer please come with."

James nodded, "Let me put these in the sink and we'll go."

So off they went, driving together to the Tower while his mind was racing. He watched how as soon as they arrived Rose took over the situation and had her team moving around to get the place ready for the group to arrive. Torchwood was not exclusive to the government but in fact worldwide at this point with a post on every continent to include Antarctica. Their reach and influence was felt in every major country to the point where it seemed everyone had a liaison assigned to the company. With that power and reach came an immense amount of security for top officials as they were the ones who represented the planet to others in the universe. Rose had met presidents and prime ministers and more on Earth and was viewed as an asset not just on this planet.

James was just now finally getting a sense of what that really meant as he watched Rose work. It took only a few hours for everything to be set in place before the Judoon, who were serving as police for this negotiation in addition to Ice Warriors, appeared via transmat for a security detail. Another hour of checking overall security, the Ice Lords arrived and the negotiations began. One side of James saw this as a flaw in how humans operate where they trusted only a small sector of humanity to act on behalf of all. On the other hand he was becoming very optimistic about Rose's role in all of this.

On the other side of the situation Rose wasn't so sure. Something was completely wrong and she could not figure it out despite the fact that their talks were going so well. Some refer to the feeling as a "spider sense" and some of the most trained soldiers will even tell you that it no longer registers as a feeling but a gut instinct. The impending doom that comes with an attack can affect a soldier or a warrior in a number of ways. Upon arriving in this world and training with Torchwood, Rose had been subjected to education in a different form: warfare. It was inevitable when you considered what their job was and they needed all their operatives to be trained should the event of an attack take place. In those stories, Rose heard of soldiers in battles sensing an incoming weapon or a bomb about to explode by tingling on the skin or a taste in the air. However in her time working with Torchwood and in warfare while doing her hops through the Dimension Cannon, she had experienced a number of these sort of experiences and in the end that was what made her act the way she did.

Rose's eyes upon entering the room swept the individuals present along with cataloging all possible entrances and exits. However as she smiled politely at the Marshall she felt uneasy. She looked around standing up straight, and as her eyes made another sweep in the room her gaze fell on one individual Judoon who had a facial expression, not that they were capable of much, which made her blood run cold as she saw his hand move. At this point, working on pure instinct, Rose sprinted forward making the Grand Marshall tense as she tackled him to the ground. Just as his agents were about to move and attack her and he was about to retaliate, an energy blast hit the wall right where he was and sending bits of the wall crumbling around and on them.

"Stay down," Rose ordered as her body protected his as much as her tiny body covered him.

Looking around she watched as her team stunned the Judoon and others began moving to contain the area and all potential threats as a bit more weapons fire filled the air until it silenced. Rose shifted off of the Grand Marshall, explaining how they were moving him to a secure room with his top advisors while they worked to ensure there were no other threats. Before he could respond, her team was shifting him out while Rose went over to Jake demanding to know what the hell happened.

James watched this whole event stunned. Rose was now moving into pure battle planning mode in a way that reminded him of the Gallifreyan and Time Lord War Councils during the Time War. She was definitely a warrior and not that shop girl he had originally met and fallen in love with. Even still, this made him smile. As she was about to move however, he grabbed her arm and pulled her across the hall into her office. Closing the door James turned back to see her annoyed.

"James I need to get this taken care of-" Rose began but he shook his head.

"You're hurt," he stated.

Rose looked at him confused, "No I'm fine."

James sighed as he stepped forward and put a hand on her waist making her wince as he pulled back his hand showing her the blood. Rose's eyes filtered to the windows where she pulled down the blinds before turning to him.

"I'm fine, okay," Rose sighed. "Look, there's some stuff I haven't quite told you yet but it's just a graze."

"You're burned and it needs to be taken care of before it gets infected," James countered. "You're not super human Rose."

"Actually," Rose countered with a wince before she lifted her shirt to show him the slight gold tinge on her skin. "I noticed it once I was starting to make the dimension hops. I heal a bit faster now so I'll be fine by tomorrow okay. Just don't mention it to anyone."

James looked stunned; this had to be tied to the power that he was able to feel, smell, taste, around and on her. The potential was now growing even more if he could find a way to tap into this power…

"We'll speak about this once we're done," James stated and Rose nodded. "At least let me wrap it in the meantime and I want to run some tests later on. We can keep it quiet."

"Fine; can I get back to work?" Rose asked.

James nodded and hurried to help her wrap it before she took off to check on the situation. In her wake, James smiled to himself. _One step closer…_


	4. Chapter 3 - Testing

The Dark I Know Well  
Chapter Three: Testing

The proper Doctor had warned her that James had a darkness about him; advised her to take care and caution, but to help him heal as she had done for him after the war. So although Rose's main focus was on adapting once more to life in Torchwood, she made sure to keep an eye on him as much as she could. As time went on she commended his ability to adapt to life and keep a positive attitude as they were finally together, but every now and then Rose would watch as his mask would drop as he was stuck in his thoughts, making her wonder how he was truly adapting. She knew he was frustrated with their involvement with Torchwood given their history with the corporation and the fact that their TARDIS wouldn't be ready for some time was not helping matters either. Combine that with his new-found humanity, he was definitely not a happy bunny.

But still despite all that there were moments he seemed actually happy and showed his concern and care for her. Like the nights when one of them would be caught in the grasp of a nightmare to awaken as the other crawled into their bed for support. After two months of this going on almost every other night, they both silently agreed to just share a bedroom. Since then they both had more restful nights and they had grown closer even more so since. Hands held each other with ease and hands also rested comfortably on arms and backs as they spoke or walked. Or as he was doing now, gently stroking her arm as he drew blood to hopefully find out what was going on with her new healing abilities. These slightest touches or affections really made her believe that they could make this work; it would just take some time.

"Anything else you've noticed?" James asked softly as he placed a plaster on her arm and stepped away to check out the sample in the lab they had built into their basement.

Rose hesitated as she looked at him nervously, "Maybe."

At her tone, James turned to her confused, "Rose?"

"It's just small stuff," Rose admitted with a half shrug, hand placing pressure on her arm where he drew blood to give her something to focus on. "I can't tell anyone at work, but Pete knows some stuff."

"Like what?" he asked worried.

"There's the healing as you know, but my hair's changed so it's just the blonde now. Happened after a few trips with the dimension cannon," Rose commented and instantly his brain corrected blonde to _gold_. "Plus people look different."

That made James sit up straight, "Different how?"

Rose just nodded, "Some people glow. Like you shine when I look at you and focus. I can turn it off a lot of the time but when I don't I get headaches. Certain people I can see the gold shine easier than others. It's like little wisps winding around them."

James moved from the desk back over to stand before her, "Can I see?"

She looked at him confused until he gently rested a hand on her cheek, pressing his fingers at her temple. Nodding and focusing on the image of what it looked like to her, Rose closed her eyes and opened her mind to him. James took in the images like a child being fed candy. He saw how she saw him with the golden wisps writing lines around his body telling him one thing: _Rose could read timelines_. The Wolf had affected her more than they realized and now he had to figure out how much. Moving his hand he noticed her wince of pain before pulling her into a hug. He needed to figure out these results fast before the Wolf merged more. The more the Wolf began fighting and taking over Rose the harder it would be for him to harness that power and he wanted to have that power _and _Rose. He refused to have to choose one or the other.

Rose eventually had to leave him to go to work and in her absence James continued to do work on the test samples he got from Rose. However the technology of this time meant that he would have to wait a bit leaving his mind racing. Hours later Rose returned from work after he was already lying in bed looking at the ceiling in thought. She changed out of her work clothes before collapsing into bed and falling into a deep slumber without a second thought. James thought nothing of this as it occasionally happened but with his mind racing he rolled over on the bed to look at her sleeping body. He reached out his fingers to gently reach her temples as he spoke softly into her mind to one entity in particular.

"I know you're in there and that you think you're protecting her, but Rose in _mine_, not yours. The sooner you accept that the better this will be for all of us."

He felt a surge of energy flow through Rose to shock him causing him to growl. He'd get the time energy somehow. Then he would take Rose with him to get his revenge and then continue to travel on in the proper universe as it should be. The true Doctor and Rose Tyler; now that was the stuff of legend.

* * *

In between work and time with Rose, James spent more time downstairs in his lab manipulating the samples to try and see how he could gain control of the time energy. Slowly but surely he was working towards a successful serum which hopefully would weaken Rose's ties to the Wolf enough to let him enter into her mind and pull the Wolf into his own. With that time energy, the Time Lord part of him that remained would be triggered and he would regain his abilities. It had to work.

However as he worked, his eyes were always drawn to the stash of boxes on the side of the lab. When he had arrived, this had been Rose's secure office, but quickly they cleaned it up to create the lab for him to work and help grow their TARDIS. Having a secure area which required a passcode to enter was a benefit to have for their work. Rose had explained that they were just reports and papers that she was going to take back to work to shred and get rid of eventually. Getting up from his desk for a break, he walked over to grab one and place it on the desk before opening it. Inside were notebooks, binders, and what looked like reports like she said. James reached in and took out a notebook where he found complex data analysis and notes written in a familiar handwriting.

_What was Rose doing calculating and performing String Theory analysis?_ He put the notebook down, exchanging it for one of the reports inside. What he found was a report Rose had apparently written for a college course on the "theory" of trans-dimensional travel via wormhole propagation which she got a high grade on. The more he looked in the boxes the more he found. Between Rose's work and calculations in addition to engineering designs on the Dimension Cannon and her studies on what looked to be complex astrophysics, he realized that she had done more than just simply Torchwood field operations and growing up in his time away. Rose Tyler had gone back to school and become an expert on space theory and physics because that's what was needed. The question remained however, why hadn't she mentioned it.

Adding it to the growing list of questions, James packed everything away once more minus one report and went back to work. He needed to figure this out. Mentally he began constructing the list in order to accomplish his goal. He needed to scour the archives to find the necessary equipment to finish the TARDIS growth acceleration. In the months it would take to finish growing, he would continue developing the serum to gain power of the wolf. From there he would somehow gain more control over Torchwood so that he could manipulate the others to enable Rose to garner the power necessary to control the development and operations of Torchwood. How that would happen he wasn't quite sure yet, but with Rose in full power of Torchwood it would be easy for him to reach out to other alien races and gather the technology he would need to go to war.

It was true that he was going to the other universe with the sole goal of making the Doctor pay, but a stock hold of weapons could hurt. To fight the Doctor would require the battle plans of a full scale war and James was willing to make the effort but not empty handed. He would go to war, defeat the Doctor, and then he and Rose would travel once more. If that meant stepping on a few planets along the way and killing a few others to reach those goals so be it. James was thirsty for some bloodshed and it was all coming together. The final question that remained now that he had a broad overarching plan was who would he have to eliminate first in order to gain more control over Torchwood?

* * *

A/N: Next chapter will have an argument between Rose and James, James getting his first taste of the power that Rose has, and James begins planning to overthrow order at Torchwood


End file.
